Drive Ants Away With Mint Leaves

Learn how to drive ants away with mint leaves from the garden, includes information on ant behavior and ways to stop them.

By M. Leanhart

| August/September 2000

I read or heard somewhere that ants lay out scented paths to food sources so that other ants can get in on the bounty.PHOTO: MOTHER EARTH NEWS STAFF

Learn how to drive ants away with mint leaves from the garden, includes information on identifying where ants enter the home.

I read in your May 2000 issue about using ground cinnamon
to repel ants ("Ant flavoring," Country Lore) and thought
I'd pass along my natural technique. In the summer months,
we leave our back door ajar while we are going in and out
and to and from the garden. In doing this, I have noticed
that the ants take full advantage of our open-door policy.
To prevent them from finding our open door appealing, I
have pulled a handful of spearmint from the herb garden and
laid it across the doorway when the door is open. The
strong scent confuses them and masks other, more inviting
odors. In addition, I read or heard somewhere that ants lay
out scented paths to food sources so that other ants can
get in on the bounty. The strong spearmint scent masks this
trail. We inherited a patch of spearmint in the garden from
the previous owners, and I have found that it is quite
invasive. So pulling up large quantities of it to drive ants away with mint leaves
is not a problem. By using it for its repelling quality
each day, and then tossing the wilted sprigs into the
compost when I'm done gardening for the day, I have kept
the spearmint patch manageable and useful. I imagine other
strongly scented herbs and spices would work in that way.

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